Either Or Both

A law school classmate -- who remains one of my most cherished friends 40 years later -- was asked one of those typical law school questions in our first year contracts class that had no clear answer. His response, "either or both" was funny at the time but also probably the most appropriate response. Some questions can't be answered with a clear choice between two options. And Occam's razor notwithstanding, the simplest answer is not always the right one. 

Polling, focus groups, and other studies suggest that a majority of Americans favor Democratic policies, particularly if they don't know they are Democratic policies -- including protecting reproductive rights, combatting climate change, raising the minimum wage, and increasing, not cutting, taxes for the wealthy. Even with regard to immigration, while there is widespread support for border safety, there is no desire for the kind of mass deportation that Trump and his neo-Nazi compatriots promise.

So why couldn't the Democrats convince voters that they were best positioned to pursue policies that most Americans want. Sure, there's been a backlash against incumbency internationally in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic damage and psychological trauma. But there's more to it. The Democratic brand is badly damaged and far too many Americans seem to believe the Democrats are truly nothing more than a bunch of woke elitists who don't care to help struggling Americans. That is the case despite the fact that the Biden Administration actually did a remarkable job in tamping down inflation and rescuing the economy from much of the damage Trump caused the last time he stank up the White House (just like Obama did after Bush II).

A huge reason for the disconnect is the radically changed media landscape that the Democrats have been so slow to recognize. As Joyce Vance notes, polling data shows that "People who are in possession of truthful, accurate information voted overwhelmingly for Harris. In other words, if you believed violent crime in major American cities was at an all-time high—which is not true—you were far more likely to vote Republican." 

As Dan Pfeiffer explains: "Because of Fox News and other Right Wing outlets, Republicans have long had an asymmetric media advantage. However, in recent years, Right Wing messaging has come to dominate non-political online spaces centered on topics like comedy, gaming, gambling, and wellness."  Thus, from Fox propaganda to Musk's transformation of Twitter into a right-wing megaphone to oligarch-owned networks to Joe Rogan's podcasts, Americans have been marinating in a toxic stew of alternative facts in which cities are crime-ridden dystopias, migrants are raping and pillaging law-abiding citizens and eating their pets, January 6th was a peaceful protest, pro-choice moms want to be able to kill their newborns, and kids are getting sex change operations at school. Who better to protect them than Donald J. Trump?

Sure there is an all-too-sizable group of, dare I say, "deplorable" Americans who embrace Trump's lawlessness, misogyny, and racism, and have no problem with his lies, corruption, and authoritarianism. But there are many others -- enough to sway an election -- who think he did an admirable job last time and actually cares about them, and that this time he will keep them safe while using tariffs to lower prices and get them higher wages. A large reason they believe this is because of the media environment to which they've been overexposed.  

But this doesn't absolve Democrats of their inability to break through and make the case for why they should have remained in power. Biden may have done some great things but the dude could not convey in any compelling way how his policies helped ordinary Americans. And while the Democrats controlled the Senate they failed to use it to expose a myriad of issues that would have highlighted the disconnect between Americans' needs and Republican values. Why Jared Kushner received billions from the Saudis would have been a good one. Or the seeming never-ending gifts received by Clarence Thomas and the lack of ethical standards at the Supreme Court. Or how about hearings on how Trump politicized the FDA and botched the response to the COVID pandemic? Maybe that would have reminded those with amnesia about how the Trump years weren't so awesome. The point would have been not simply to show that Republicans are corrupt and incompetent but that they put their own greed and political gain above the needs of the People.

The passivity that permeates the Democratic Party, particularly the old guys who have failed to reckon with the fact that the halcyon days of Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan are long over, is absolutely infuriating. And don't get me started on Merrick Garland's beyond methodical approach to indicting Trump but it is worth thinking about why Biden felt it was necessary to appoint someone of such a moderate, relatively apolitical tenor for Attorney General in the first place.

It is understandable that Americans believe the political system is broken and our institutions are ill designed to help them. But Democrats could have addressed this by focusing, for example, on the post-Citizens United landscape in which a handful of oligarchs can fund and influence political campaigns. Susan Glasser's piece in The New Yorker explained how Trump courted the country's wealthiest donors and what they might expect in return. But not only have Democrats been mostly silent about the need to reign in campaign spending and for greater transparency as to who is funding whom, they too have become adept at courting big donors, making it somewhat difficult to throw stones.  

The Democrats have lost the ability to speak to their base and address their concerns. It is remarkable that Harris seems to have lost not because more people voted for Trump but because less people identified as Democrats voted at all. The Party needs to figure out how to reach those folks again and I don't think the answer is to pal around with Liz Cheney. 

So before we descend into the madness and chaos of the next term, it is worth asking, did Harris lose because she and her Party failed to make a compelling case or because their case was drowned out by the the right wing media machine? The answer is: either or both.